Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Enterprise Rent-A-Car False Claim of Hail damage after car was returned Sioux Falls, South Dakota

26th of Dec, 2010 by User687771

The company Iworked forarranged for a rental car at the Sioux Falls Airport on a direct bill agreement for 60 days. After 5 weeks I decided to return the car and return home to New York. I took the car to the airport on October 5, 2010 at 8 am and waited in line and when the two customers in front of me had been waited on, the person at the counter went out to the car and did an inspection of the car. From the rental counter I observed the individual do a complete walk around the car and a visual inspection of the interior. He came back in and reported to his co-worker that the car was ok and a Return Rental Document was printed and given to me.

The next day around 2pm, an Enterprise employee called me on my cell phone and stated that when they were washing the car, they had found minor hail damage to the car that had not been seen the day prior. I informed the individual that I was driving in Illinois at the time and could not return to Sioux Falls to review the damage and further stated that the car had not been in a hail storm while in my possession. He said that you could be in a hail storm and not know it. I rebutted his statement and said that at night the car had been parked beside my personal car and in the daytime the car had been parked in a parking lot with hundreds of other vehicles none of which had hail damage.He stated that the damage was so minor that it would probably not be repaired but they just needed to file a report and that I needed to know. The conversation ended with me insisting that no damage had occured while I was in possession of the car.

On October 7, 2010 Enterprise Damage Recovery Unit sent me a notice stating that there had been damage reported to the vehicle I had rented. They advised me to contact my insurance company or credit card company so that a claim could be filed. The postmark on the letter was October 12, 2010.

I called Enterprise Damage Recovery Unit and explained there was no hail damage to the car, I had not been in a hail storm and that visual inspection when I returned the car had not revealed damage and that damage was found 24 hours later. She said she would note it on the claim.

On October 22, I received an email stating that they had investigated with renting location and that I was being billed $450 for damage.

Inlater conversations withindividuals in the claim office I have asked for photosor someproof that there was damage to the vehicle. I have been told that no photoswere taken and the only proof of damage was the bill for the repair to the vehicle and later told they had a quote. In this day of everyone owning a camera, I find it impossible that photos of the damage were not taken and put with the claim.

I am convienced that there was no damage to the vehicle and that this is a scam and that I am being taken advantage of. The claim department has threatened me with turning the file over to a collection agent, and possible legal action. The person in the claim department does not care that they can not provide me with documentation of damage. The last conversation I had with the claim agent, she got mad when I insisted upon proof of damage and hung up on me after threating me with legal action.

I would advise anyone not to rent from Enterprise, National or Alamo since the claim office seems to represent all three rental companies by their threats not to allow me to rent from them in the future if I do not pay.

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Comments

4645 days ago by Nolongerafan

I just had a similar thing happen with Enterprise in Denver. At first, I was really impressed by their extremely friendly customer service agents, and was even considering writing a letter to Enterprise to let them know that. After I did a quick check on the car with our rep looking for any major damage or scratches, he asked if I wanted hail insurance for an additional $20 per day, and I declined (since I already have coverage through my insurance). He must have asked me at least six more times, letting me know that they would charge my credit card when I return the car if there was any hail damage. I politely declined again, at which point he called into someone on his radio, letting them know that I declined the hail insurance. I thought the entire experience about the hail insurance was really strange.

When I returned the car several days later, after experiencing nothing but beautiful weather in Boulder, they told me there was hail damage on the roof of the car and that someone would be contacting me about it. I told the rep that we had nothing but beautiful weather, but it didn't seem to matter to her. She was intent on letting us know that someone would be contacting us about making a claim - at which point, I pulled out my camera and took a picture of the hood of the car, which had no damage.

I just received the same type of letter in the mail, advising me that I should contact my credit card company or insurance company. I intend to do both, and will also be contacting an attorney to expose this shady new practice that Enterprise has put into place. I know there was a bad hail storm in Denver the week before I was there. I'm guessing that they incurred some damage on cars that are just sitting out in their open parking lot, and this is their way of passing their loss on to the consumers. I used to rent from Enterprise very often...but will never rent from them again. It's a shame that they are trying to cover up such a deceitful practice with the appearance of friendly customer service reps.